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Natural Selection 2

Hello,

Just thought I would make a post about Natural Selection 2, as it has yet to be a fully featured RPS post nor has it a had thread on the forums, afaik.

So, for those who do not know what NS2 is it is a sequel to a mod for HL1, developed in a new engine called Spark created by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The gameplay concept is sci-fi aliens vs marines with FPS and RTS perspectives and mechanics. So each team has a commander and fight for resources, map control and destroying their structures. In addition it has tech trees and upgrades as well.

It is currently in preorder access beta, with still some features left to be added, and is out August/September I believe.

ps. I think it is quite a shame that this has not received more than 1 post (in February) on the frontpage, as it is certainly a news worthy game I would think.

1 post this year. 12 fully dedicated front page posts in total. I guess it has something to do with the fact it entered Beta in November 2010, and there hasn't been much to be said about it since then. 2 trailers, a 'Meet-the-Devs' video, and that's about all.

Anyways... as to the actual game... I heard the Beta was initially in a pretty horrendous state, but they've been doing their best to beat it into shape since it started. Will be interesting to see what's eventually released.

Originally Posted by Hypernetic

I just have an opinion different to your own. Circle jerking is good for no one, be glad somebody isn't afraid to disagree with women on the internet.

1 post this year. 12 fully dedicated front page posts in total. I guess it has something to do with the fact it entered Beta in November 2010, and there hasn't been much to be said about it since then. 2 trailers, a 'Meet-the-Devs' video, and that's about all.

Anyways... as to the actual game... I heard the Beta was initially in a pretty horrendous state, but they've been doing their best to beat it into shape since it started. Will be interesting to see what's eventually released.

Yes, I knew someone would find more post than me. It always happens when someone complains about a lack of coverage :p My own fault of course, though I would still like to see something else except reposts of videos and news bulletins. Something like an interview or a preview or something.

As for the beta, it is pretty stable now and I very very rarely crash even in 2 hour games with a lot of structures. The only real problem is that they haven't optimised for performance yet, so your fps might not be up to scratch. I have between 20-40 fps on an I7 and a 5850.

Anyways... as to the actual game... I heard the Beta was initially in a pretty horrendous state, but they've been doing their best to beat it into shape since it started. Will be interesting to see what's eventually released.

Yeah. Performance was pretty abysmal through early stages of alpha and beta but that improved a lot during the last patches and still improves with every new one although the major performance tweaks are yet to come.
Which reminds me that I haven't played for a few weeks now. So many games, so little time.

I thought about preordering early on, but I waited once they did the engine switch and the first alpha/pre beta had some problems. I expect this to eventually release but I will wait till then. Loved NS1.

I personally enjoy the Khamander greatly. The gorge building in NS1 was great too, but the way the resources were handled made it a bit unfair against the players who had to spend their res to make a hive etc. Now there are two seperate resource pools for each side (team and personal resources). In NS2, the gorge has a more supporting role and creates blockades, offensive chambers (now called Hydras) and got the bilebomb. The devs want the Khamander to act as a cosmic gardener, and it is kinda how it feels now as everything is organic and grows where you want it to.

I like the alien commander too. It's a controversial new feature but I think it's coming along. Especially since they are working and tweaking the gorge-commander relation with every patch. They just did something to the cysts and hydras I think, but as I said earlier I did not have the chance to play the last updates. Most likely I will be hopelesly confused for the first hour when I pick it up again :D

Thanks guys; I thought about it a bit more and I'm starting to see the reason why they introduced it.

I remember in NS1 that there was often no reason to stay as a gorge, unless you were using healspray to defend a hive. You'd change to gorge, drop your RT/chambers/hive and then change back to skulk. I like that NS2 is addressing this with the commander/gorge divide.